4.30.2008

Constructing Dreams

Four score and seven years ago, we started forth on a new housing project... or at least that is how long it has felt. I am sure that our friends and family have become tired of the details, but there has been a new development that warrants a new blog posting.

We are moving to Galena... old news by now. We were originally going to try to move and build within the same summer, a thought deemed crazy by most of our loved ones, but they have not been living in rented distrcit housing for the past seven years. Now, the plans have shifted... yet again, and we will be renting this summer and winter while preparing for building the next summer.

We called John at First Day this morning with a new idea. By now, he knows its me even before I say hello as I have called him with so many different thoughts during this whole Harris Home project. Poor John must be about as gray as I am now and I fear he will have a nervous twitch by the time the last nail is driven into our house. He will aimlessly walk around mumbling something about that crazy Alaskan Harris family.

The new thought is to order the kit this summer so that it can be shipped into Galena during the short summer shipping window as it will need to be barged on the Yukon during the ice free months. We will store the materials within the containers during the winter and unload them as spring begins to break so as to avoid what John calls the greenhouse effect inside of a steel container. "Some people pay extra for blue tinted pine, but that is not how we designed them," was John's statement.

So... the most updated plan... move to Galena, find a lot, get pilings for a foundation, order kit, store it on the lot, and begin building in the spring when it is warm enough that the nails don't snap off while being driven. It will give us a longer building season as we will not be depending on the Yukon to break up prior to construction and it will hopefully allow for us to get a "cheaper" shipping rate as gas prices continue to go up.

The above picture is that of the design we are considering. It will allow for 1600 square feet of livable space and make up for the fact that we will not be able to have a basement in Galena.